Since Shona is spoken by over 90% of Zimbabweans, learning and retaining it is also a good way to solidify one’s ties with people in Zimbabwe. As such, we present over the coming weeks, lessons in Shona to help those of you who want to learn it for the first time, or for those who want to recap some concepts.

Lesson 1

These lessons are focused on simple conversations. The basic language skills are often enough to break down conversational barriers, to identify with others, and to pass on heritage by signalling to children who have been brought up abroad that Zimbabwe, too, is an important part of their identity.
Shona is a relatively easy language to pronounce because vowel sounds do not alter from
word to word. All words end in a vowel. Shona is a phonetic language – spelling easily indicates how the word sounds.

Vowel Pronunciation
a as in army
e as in egg
I as in big
o as in hot
u as in who

All vowels are pronounced e.g. roora (marry) pronounced as ro-o-ra, and kuuya ( to come) pronounced as ku-u-ya. Note that Shona has no l,q,x,c except the combination of ch-.

Pronouns
In Shona, as in many other languages, there are different forms of addressing people depending on the familiarity of the relationship and the relative ages. Peers can be addressed casually, whilst elders, regardless of how old you are, are addressed with respect, or in the more formal way. As such, the pronouns for ‘you’, and ‘he’ or ‘she’ change depending on how ‘senior’ the person is.

• I – Ini
• You – Iwe (singular, to a peer)
• You – Imi/mu (This applies for all plural forms of ‘you’, and is also the form for addressing a single, senior person)
• She/He – Iye
• It – icho
• We - ti
• Us – isu
• They – va/ivo (note that ‘they’ remains the same for peers and seniors)
• Their – avo

We’ll use these expressions in the next lesson, but for now just familiarise yourself with the variations. Remember that a language is not learned by memorising grammar, but by speaking the words. The audio for this lesson can be obtained from http://www.learnshona.com in an mp3 format that can be played on the computer, on many phones and music players.

Next week’s topics include possessives, greetings and the verb ‘to know’. We’ll also have a set of common phrases that follow on from the concepts in this lesson.

Nyasha Madavo.
Nyasha Madavo is founder of LearnShona.com.

Learn Shona – Related Books

Beginner’s Shona (Chishona) by Aquilina Mawadza
Shona, a Bantu language, is spoken in Zimbabwe and Mozambique. This dictionary and phrasebook features the ChiShona dialect. Included are vocabulary sections, a phrasebook, pronunciation tips, a brief outline of the language’s grammar and information about local culture.

Aquilina Mawadza is a lecturer in the Department of African languages and Literature at the University of Zimbabwe. She obtained a master’s degree in linguistics form the University of Florida, Gainesville, where she taught Shona for two years.

UK
Beginner’s Shona on Amazon.co.uk

USA

Beginner’s Shona on Amazon.com

Shona-English/English-Shona: Dictionary and Phrasebook
Shona, or ChiShona, a Bantu language spoken by eight million people in Zimbabwe and Mozambique, is the official and most widely-spoken language of Zimbabwe. Designed for the traveler, this compact guide provides the means for basic communication in Shona, featuring a two-way dictionary and phrasebook with practical and cultural information. –1,400 dictionary entries –Pronunciation guide –A basic grammar – Essential phrases – Ideal for the traveler and student.

UK
Shona-English: Dictionary and Phrasebook on Amazon.co.uk

USA

Shona-English: Dictionary and Phrasebookon Amazon.com